PRICES of steel goods should rise and stabilize early this year after falling steeply in the past two quarters, as raw materials become costlier and demand may be boosted by state infrastructure spending and house sales, industry leaders said late last week.
But realty firms may not hike prices of units, since they had already raised prices last year and will not want to risk losing buyers, a property analyst said.
Prices of flat steel sheets used for roofing and gutters will rise by 3%-5% within the first quarter from current prices, Filipino Galvanizers Institute President Salvio D. Perez said in a telephone interview.
An 8-foot long 0.4mm galvanized iron (GI) sheet, which currently costs P380, may rise to P400, Mr. Perez said.
"We are looking at price increases in the first quarter because prices of raw materials are going up after foreign mills started production cutbacks," Mr. Perez said, adding that scrap iron, also an input, have become costlier as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment